Killing of an airman by Florida deputy is among cases of Black people being shot in their homes

The fatal shooting of a U.S. Air Force airman at his off-base apartment in the Florida Panhandle by a sheriff’s deputy brings to mind other instances of Black people being killed by law enforcement in their own homes as they’re going about their day.

Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was killed on May 3 in his apartment in Fort Walton Beach. Body camera video viewed by reporters Thursday shows the Okaloosa County deputy arriving at the apartment building and speaking to a woman who described someone hearing an argument. The deputy then went up an elevator and walked down an outdoor hallway.

On the body camera video, the deputy can be heard yelling that he was from the sheriff’s department and knocking, while also stepping seemingly out of view of the door. The video then shows Fortson opening the door with what appears to be a gun in his hand pointed toward the ground.

The deputy quickly fires several shots, yelling for Fortson to drop the gun after he is already on the ground wounded.

Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Fortson’s family, has said Fortson was talking to his girlfriend on FaceTime and grabbed his gun because he heard someone outside his apartment.

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